Retrograss Farm was established in March 2014, previously we had been farming at a rental property for a year and prior had owned a small permaculture homestead in Takoma Park, Maryland. Karine has studied Biodynamics for the past seven years, taking various courses and reading like crazy. Our farm is beyond Organic and we began using our first Biodynamic Preparations on the property in the Spring of 2015.
The farm is evolving with the primary focus up front being fertility, we have the following fertility sources living on our farm (and many compost piles to back it up):
Dwarf Nigerian Goats with horns (both male and female). We stud out or in house, we have two registered lines available. The white one in the picture below and a young black and white male not shown. They are both very gentle and love humans so they are easy to handle.
Shetland Sheep (whethers) – We raise these from Mettebee Farm, and slaughter as lamb in the Spring. The meat is amazing, melts in your mouth tender better than any beef steak I’ve had! The lamb is grassfed and finished.
Clydesdale Mare (Christy) and her companion Pony (Lily). Christy is a trained draft horse and she will be helping us pull logs around as her first task on the farm, aside from giving rides to children and adults and producing some very nice compost!
Flock of 50 heritage chickens (with more on the way both by mama’s sitting on eggs and our in house incubator). We have a mixed flock of laying hens and some heritage meat birds mixed in and offer them for sale fresh (seasonally) and frozen (year round). We sell both our older layers and roosters which are the taste that our African community members remember growing up and relish the opportunity to enjoy those flavors. We also raise Freedom Rangers, which are derived from the French Label Rouge Program, these fast growing meat birds don’t just sit around and eat feed but enjoy catching bugs and running around in the forest with our heritage birds and ducks! Our birds have a bright yellow/orange fat from the Omega 3’s they get from fresh grass, bugs and worms and Organic soy-free scraps and feed. They also receive Fodder (sprouted grains that includes 6 inches of green grass during the winter months).
Always increasing flock of French Muscovy Ducks – We offer eggs seasonally (March 1 through September), we offer 6 month old male ducks fresh (in season) or frozen year
Retrograss was established in 2014 and is a Biodynamic, Organic Farm. The primary focus of the farm is fertility – which means using regenerative soil farming techniques. The farm is home to Dwarf Nigerian Goats, Shetland Sheep, at least 50 Heritage chickens, a Clydesdale mare and a pony, a flock of French Muscovy ducks, 2 Giant African Geese, and 2 black pigs.
The owners have completed many infrastructure projects including several animal shelters. The completed building projects include: a run-in shed for the grazing crew during the winter, and an Earthship pig house for their winter living and furrowing, and several small structures around the farm to accommodate the livestock as they are rotationally grazed.